Fehr is ready to step down

Fehr, 60, will leave the reins to Michael Weiner, who as general counsel is currently No. 3 in the union, pending approval of the union’s executive board. Fehr has overseen one of the most powerful unions in the country, representing a work force that has grown from an annual average salary of $289,000 when he took over in 1985 to $3.3 million last season. Fehr leaves with two years remaining on the current basic agreement, which ends in December 2011.

“He helped shape what baseball is today,’’ said Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon. “He helped a lot of players have great lives through his knowledge and persistence. I’m happy he was in charge.’’

Lately, the union has come under criticism for not destroying the confidential records of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a random 2003 test of major leaguers. The anonymous testing was put in place to determine the extent of steroid use in baseball. The agreement the union and Major League Baseball made at the time was that if more than 5 percent tested positive, a tough testing program would be put into place. Just under 9 percent tested positive. This year, reports leaked that Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa were among the players who tested positive.

The union and MLB agreed on a drug testing plan in 2002, revising it three times since under pressure from the US Congress.

While Fehr drew some criticism for his opposition to drug testing, there is no doubt he was a fierce advocate for the players.

He oversaw three work stoppages during his reign - a two-day strike in 1985, a 32-day lockout in 1990, and a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years. The end of that work stoppage came when the union, through the National Labor Relations Board, obtained an injunction to restore the old work rules from US District Judge Sonia Sotomayor, nominated last month by President Obama for an opening on the Supreme Court.

Since that stoppage, it’s been relatively smooth sailing except for the steroids issues.

Fehr, who said he will leave no later than the end of March, graciously passed the baton to the Harvard Law School-educated Weiner, who has been groomed for many years and has been with the Players Association since 1988. Weiner, 47, has been the major enforcer and administrator of the basic agreement and he’s been the general counsel for the union since 2004, in charge of all legal matters pertaining to the basic agreement.

“I have no hesitancy in recommending to the players that he be given the opportunity to do this job,’’ said Fehr in a statement yesterday.

“Michael has been at my side during all the battles we have fought over the last 20 years and has been a major part of our successes,’’ Fehr said. “He is clearly the most qualified person to become the next executive director and carry on the work of the Players Association in the years to come.’’

Fehr went on to say that, “It has been a high privilege to be entrusted with the leadership of this extraordinary union for the last 25 years, and I am enormously proud of what the players have accomplished during that time. But now, about two years before the next round of collective bargaining, is the right time for me to relinquish my position and for the players to name new leadership. Accordingly, I have informed members of the executive board that I will resign effective not later than next March 31.’’

Fehr has had quite a career. He had been working on cases defending steelworkers’ rights before serving as a law clerk for the firm handling the Andy Messersmith-Dave McNally appeal in 1975, when arbitrator Peter Seitz overturned the reserve clause, ushering in the free agency era.

That’s when Fehr got to know Marvin Miller, the pioneering union head who Fehr would eventually replace after a brief tenure by Kenneth Moffett, who was fired by the players. Fehr, who had been a general counsel since 1977, came aboard as acting executive director Dec. 8, 1983 and never left.

Fehr was a hard-nosed negotiator who got his way, but he forged a very good relationship with Selig.

“For more than 25 years, Don has represented his constituency with passion, loyalty, and great diligence,’’ Selig told MLB.com. “Though we have had our differences, I have always respected his role. In recent years, we have worked together to find common ground for the betterment of the game, which will have resulted in 16 years of unprecedented labor peace by the end of our current collective bargaining agreement. We hope to continue to build upon the game’s prosperity as we work with the new leadership of the Players Association.’’

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com; material from the Associated Press was used in this report.